Chapter 4
Restoring the Priesthood and the Church
In This Chapter
Looking at how the gospel has faded and resurfaced throughout history
Pinpointing the beginnings of Mormonism
Finding out about Joseph Smith’s calling as a prophet
Understanding the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods
Mormons respect people’s right to worship as they please, and they acknowledge that many religions contain elements of truth. But members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe their church is the only complete, “true and living” church that the Savior recognizes as his own. Other churches, in the Mormon view, can be excellent organizations, but they’re human, not godly, institutions whose teachings reflect mostly human philosophies. Their scriptural interpretations and — according to the Mormons — especially their priesthood authority come from human sources, not from God himself.
Looking back on human history, Mormons believe that, from time to time, different societies have received the Savior’s true religion but then lost it due to the people’s lack of righteousness. When the time and conditions are right, the Savior reinstitutes the true religion by calling a new prophet to restore the gospel principles and ordinances to a different group or generation of people. As we discuss in this chapter, Mormons claim that, most recently, the Savior restored his church and God’s true priesthood through Joseph Smith, Mormonism’s founding prophet.
In addition, we discuss the basic organization and purposes of the Mormon priesthood, which is the authority to act in God’s name and can be held by any worthy Mormon male. To help explain the priesthood to their sons, some fathers even compare it to the Force from Star Wars.
Gospel Comings and Goings
Like some other folks, Mormons speak of gospel dispensations throughout history, or times when the true religion, including God’s authentic priesthood authority, exists somewhere on the earth. Each dispensation is usually tied to one special prophet, who receives revelations from God and leads the people back to him. For example, Adam, Noah, and Moses all led major gospel dispensations. However, those dispensations eventually fizzled out.
Why do gospel dispensations end? Often they end because the people are unwilling to follow the prophet and live the gospel. When the people start getting too rebellious, God lets his true religion pass away from the earth, usually because the last righteous leader dies without transmitting the priesthood keys (a term Mormons use for priesthood authority) to a successor. In time, God calls a new prophet to restore the gospel, and the cycle continues.
Before a young prophet named Joseph Smith performed the biggest, grandest gospel restoration of all in the early 1800s, roughly 1,700 years passed with- out an authorized prophet in the Old World, perhaps the longest stretch in history. Mormons believe that within a few decades after Christ set up his New Testament church, all the apostles died without successors, due mainly to persecution. Some fragments of Christianity survived and evolved over the centuries. However, unauthorized men changed the doctrines and ordinances to suit their own purposes and interpretations. (Over in the New World, the last prophet didn’t die until about A.D. 400, as recounted in the Book of Mormon — but that still leaves a span of roughly 1,400 years until Joseph Smith.)
Beginning the Restoration
It’s hard to imagine that many Americans have been as hated and beloved as Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism (see Figure 4-1 for a portrait). To Mormons, he was a prophet of God, chosen to restore the priesthood and the New Testament church, suffering persecution for his faith and dying a martyr’s death. To some outsiders, he was a fraud who falsely claimed to have revelations and instituted the practice of polygamy not to obey the commands of God but to satisfy his own carnal lusts.
|
Figure 4-1: Mormon-ism’s founding prophet, Joseph Smith. |
|
Courtesy of Community of Christ Archives, Independence, Missouri
The debate about Joseph Smith continues today as fervently as it did when he was still alive. In this section, we take a quick look at the man and his controversial spiritual claims and let you decide for yourself.
Joseph Smith’s early years
Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805, in the small New England village of Sharon, Vermont. His story is pretty similar to that of many families in the early republic: His parents were hardworking farm folk who never seemed to catch a break, moving seven times in 14 years to find better land and more economic opportunities. With a large family to support — the Smiths would eventually have 11 children, though only 9 survived to adulthood — getting ahead was a constant struggle.
Religiously, the Smiths were good Christian people who knew the Bible well but weren’t typically involved in any one particular church. Their lack of involvement was partly a result of moving around so much, but it also stemmed from their confusion about the many different religious sects of the day. The early 19th century was a time of great religious revival in northeastern states such as New York, where the Smiths moved when young Joseph was 10 years old.
Eventually, with the entire family doing odd jobs, the Smiths were able to afford a farm on the outskirts of Palmyra, New York. There, in 1816, they settled into the backbreaking work of clearing the land and harvesting crops until 1825, when a run of bad luck — including falling grain prices and the death of Joseph’s beloved adult brother Alvin — forced them to sell the farm and live there as tenants. This change was a hard blow to Joseph’s parents, who were then in their 50s.
To make ends meet, the Smith boys and their father hired themselves out for odd jobs in addition to working the land upon which they lived. They worked at haying, harvesting, clearing trees, digging wells — and searching for treasure. The Church has carefully downplayed this last point in its official history, but the fact is certainly true that, like many other Americans of this period, Joseph Smith was involved in treasure seeking. Anti-Mormons are quick to emphasize this activity because they believe it casts doubt on Smith’s later discovery of the ultimate treasure: golden plates that, when translated, became the Book of Mormon. (For more on the Book of Mormon, see Chapter 9.) In their minds, Smith’s claim to have “discovered” the Book of Mormon through angelic intervention loses credibility if he already had a history of digging for buried treasure. Latter-day Saints argue that the fact that Smith was occasionally drafted into treasure digging is hardly a stain on his name.
True grit
Joseph’s mother recorded in her memoir that he was a quiet child who was interested in spirituality from an early age. He seems to have been made of tough stuff; when he was about 7 years old, for example, he contracted typhoid fever and endured a horrible secondary infection that lodged itself in the bone marrow of his leg.
Mormon children today are regaled with the story of how Joseph bravely faced the surgeon’s knife when the infection was being chipped out of his bone. Parents and teachers trot out the story to demonstrate more than just bravery: Little Joseph famously refused alcohol to help deaden the pain, making him a poster child for the later Mormon attitude toward teetotalism. (For the skinny on why Mormons don’t drink, see Chapter 16.)
Kneeling in the Sacred Grove
During the same period that the Smiths were experiencing such economic unrest, young Joseph was encountering serious religious turmoil. In the early 1820s, a series of religious revivals in upstate New York caused the teenage Joseph to feel some confusion about which church to join. Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist ministers were all vying for the souls of the locals. All these preachers seemed to speak some truth, and Joseph had trouble distinguishing which was right.
Joseph couldn’t find any privacy in his family’s crowded cottage, so he headed off for the woods to pray in solitude. He knelt in a nearby clearing — which Mormons now refer to as the Sacred Grove — and prayed to the Lord for guidance as to which denomination was right. He’d hardly finished talking when he felt some astonishing power seize him, making him feel as if his tongue had been bound, and he was surrounded by utter darkness. “It seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction,” he wrote later.
Mormons believe that Public Enemy Number One — Satan — caused the darkness because he could see that something major was about to go down for the spiritual welfare of humankind and wanted to scare off Joseph before it could continue. Joseph felt himself sinking into despair but called upon God to deliver him out of the enemy’s power. It was then that he saw a pillar of light appear directly above his head, shining even brighter than the sun. The light gradually descended, driving out all darkness from the grove.
After he adjusted to this shock, Joseph saw that the light was actually coming from two beings, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. (Talk about a dramatic answer to prayer.) One pointed to the other and said, “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
Now that he had their attention, Joseph asked the question that was in his heart: Which church should he join? Surprisingly, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ told him to join none of them, because they were all corrupt. Considering how important the First Vision later became in the Mormon story, the fact that this is all Mormons know of the conversation is kind of surprising. Joseph said that Heavenly Father spoke of “many other things,” but he either couldn’t or was forbidden to write about them.
After the vision
When he came to, Joseph was lying on his back in the clearing, feeling spent and exhausted. He walked home and, in what may have been the understatement of the century, told his anxious mother he’d learned for himself that he wasn’t supposed to join any of the existing churches.
Joseph, presumably quite flabbergasted by the unexpected divine visita- tion, seems to have kept pretty quiet about it. Opponents of Mormonism trumpet this fact as evidence that it never happened. If someone experienced a miraculous and highly personal visit from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, wouldn’t he or she shout it from the rooftops? Mormons counter that Joseph did try to tell someone about it: He confided in a local Methodist preacher a few days later but was disappointed by the minister’s contempt. Given that God’s revelation to Joseph almost entirely concerned the corruptness of exist-ing churches and ministers, the fact that the minister loathed what Joseph had to say isn’t too surprising. After a few more such encounters, Joseph learned to keep his mouth shut about his unusual experience, for the time being.
According to the accepted official version, several more years elapsed before Joseph received another heavenly visitor. For more on the Angel Moroni and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, see Chapter 9.
Bringing Back the Church Step by Step
From the time of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, about a decade passed before he officially organized the LDS Church in 1830. Until he was martyred in 1844, 14 years later, he continued restoring gospel principles, translating ancient scriptures, and receiving new revelations. In this section, we provide a chronological overview of the major steps in the latter-day restoration of the Church and show how the modern Church relates back to earlier versions.
A parade of heavenly messengers
In order for Joseph to restore the Church, he had to receive the necessary priesthood keys from the men who’d last held them on the earth. Because those men were all long since dead, they returned to the earth as resurrected beings to make some special deliveries to Joseph and his associates.
Joseph Smith and his Book of Mormon translation scribe, Oliver Cowdery, said that the resurrected John the Baptist appeared to them in 1829 to restore the Aaronic Priesthood. (We explain this preparatory priesthood in more detail in the section “For boys: The Aaronic Priesthood.”) They said that John laid his hands on their heads to grant them this priesthood as they stood on the banks of Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River. He then instructed them to baptize each other in the river.
At some unspecified time after that, Joseph and Oliver said that the New Testament apostles Peter, James, and John appeared as resurrected beings to bestow the Melchizedek Priesthood on them. (For more about this priesthood, see the later section “For men: The Melchizedek Priesthood.”) This event was a prerequisite to organizing and leading the Savior’s authorized church, including performing ordinances and receiving revelations. Mormons believe that Peter served as prophet and president of the New Testament church after Jesus’s resurrection, with James and John as his counselors.
On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith convened a small meeting in a log farmhouse in upstate New York to officially organize the Church with six founding members. About two weeks prior to this, he’d published the first edition of the all-important Book of Mormon, his translation of ancient Western Hemisphere writings about Christ. Hot off the press, this book of scripture became the fledgling religion’s calling card to the world. (For more on the Book of Mormon, see Chapter 9.)
Over the next several years, other resurrected prophets — including Moses, Elias, and Elijah — gave Joseph additional priesthood keys, such as the power to seal families for eternity and perform gospel ordinances on behalf of the dead. In addition, Joseph continued to expand and refine the Church’s organizational structure, which Church leaders occasionally still tweak today. (For info on the Church’s general worldwide leadership, see Chapter 8. For info on local leadership, see Chapter 6.)
Continuing the gospel tradition
According to the Mormons, the ancient and modern churches share the same priesthood authority, ordinances, and basic organization. Then and now, the Church is the kingdom of God on earth, and its main purpose is to enable all people, living and dead, to make eternal covenants with God by receiving ordinances, obeying commandments, and following Christ. When people hold up their end of the covenants they make at baptism (see Chapter 6) and in the Mormon temple (see Chapter 7), God provides blessings in return, the greatest of which is exaltation, or becoming an eternal parent like God.
In addition, Mormons believe that this new church launched by Joseph Smith includes, as predicted in the Bible, the “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21) — including, perhaps most challengingly, Old Testament polygamy. The gospel will never again disappear from the earth, in the Mormon view — in fact, another of the Church’s main purposes is to prepare people to eventually welcome back the resurrected Christ, who will reign over the earth for 1,000 years before the final judgment (for more on these beliefs, see Chapter 3).
What’s in a name?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hasn’t always gone by that name. In the 1830s, Joseph Smith tried out two other names before finally settling on the one that exists today (which was spelled a little differently during his lifetime, with no hyphen).
In April 1830, when the Church was first organized, it was called the Church of Christ. However, that name was already taken by a group led by Alexander Campbell, which similarly claimed it was the restored New Testament church, so the Mormons needed to find some way to distinguish themselves in the public mind. In April 1834, Smith declared that the official name was the “Church of Latter Day Saints.” In 1838, Smith put “Jesus Christ” into the name, making it the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”
Interestingly, some members today argue that the LDS Church is the true church of Jesus Christ because it bears his name. Opponents of Mormonism find this argument simplistic and point out that by this logic, the same organization was not the true church for those few years in the 1830s when “Jesus Christ” wasn’t part of the official name. They make a darned good point: A mere name does not a restored church make.
Today, the Church asks people to use its full name on first reference and the generic- sounding “Church of Jesus Christ” on sub-sequent references. However, most people inside and outside the Church continue to use the nicknames “LDS Church,” which the Church tolerates, and “Mormon Church,” which Church authorities actively discourage. (For more on where the nickname Mormon comes from, see Chapter 1.)
Understanding the Priesthood
In the Mormon view, the priesthood is nothing less than God’s power and authority. He can use the priesthood to create worlds, to keep the universe running smoothly, and to perform other godly tasks. In order to give his children — who someday will become godlike — an opportunity to learn the ropes of the family business, God grants priesthood power and authority to all worthy male members of Christ’s church. This way, they can help carry out God’s purposes on the earth and perform ordinances that hold eternal weight. Of course, a mortal’s priesthood power compared to God’s is like a candle compared to the sun, but the type of power is basically the same, and it can keep increasing eternally. (For comments on women and the priesthood, see the section, “What about women and the priesthood?”)
The Mormon priesthood is divided into two levels. The Aaronic Priesthood, also known as the preparatory priesthood, helps Mormon teens get ready to become Jedi — er, to receive the higher Melchizedek Priesthood, which all worthy adult males can hold. (Don’t worry; later in this section we explain where that M name comes from and how to pronounce it.)
For boys: The Aaronic Priesthood
Named after Moses’ brother Aaron, the Aaronic Priesthood mainly performs the Church’s outward ordinances of repentance, such as baptizing people and administering the sacramental bread and water to congregations. In biblical times, adult descendants of Aaron administered this priesthood. In the modern Church, all worthy teenage boys do.
This section outlines the three ranks of the Aaronic Priesthood, through which Mormon boys advance every two years. Each time a boy advances, he can continue performing the duties of the lower ranks. Before advancing in the priesthood, a boy discusses his worthiness in a private interview with his local congregational leader, who also holds an Aaronic Priesthood office, as we explain.
By the way, when an adult male joins the Church, he’s initially ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood, but he usually takes only a few months — rather than six years — to advance to the higher priesthood.
Step 1: Deacon
Turning 12 is a major milestone for a Mormon boy. He leaves the Primary, the Church’s organization for children, and joins the Young Men, the program for boys ages 12 through 17. Even more significantly, if Church leaders deem him worthy, they make him part of the Aaronic Priesthood, starting with the office of deacon.
The main duty of a deacon is to pass the sacramental bread and water to the congregation during sacrament meeting, Mormonism’s main weekly congregational worship service (for more on sacrament meeting, see Chapter 6). In addition, deacons serve as messengers for priesthood leaders, help take care of the meetinghouse, and in heavily Mormon areas may go house to house collecting fast offerings from members. (Once a month, Mormons skip two meals and donate what they would’ve spent on the food — plus more, if they’re able — to the poor and needy. For more on Mormon fasting, see Chapter 16.)
Step 2: Teacher
At age 14, a Mormon boy can become a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood. A teacher’s main job is filling the sacramental trays with bread and water and setting them out to be blessed and passed. In addition, teachers can accompany adult priesthood holders on home teaching visits, which is the only teaching they typically do. (In Mormonism, the men visit each household in the congregation once a month — ideally — to see how the members are doing and to deliver a short gospel message. For more on home teaching, see Chapter 17.)
Step 3: Priest
At age 16, LDS boys can become priests. The main job of Mormon priests is to bless the sacramental bread and water, saying the prayer exactly right or repeating it until they do. (Don’t worry; they can use a cheat sheet.) In addition, priests can perform baptisms (see Chapter 6), ordain other males to Aaronic Priesthood offices, and conduct meetings when an adult priesthood holder is absent.
The bishop
Okay, this section is a little confusing, so bear with us. The leader of a full-sized Mormon congregation, or ward, is called the bishop (his counterpart in a smaller congregation, or branch, is called a branch president). Why do we list that role here, under the Aaronic Priesthood? Because, technically, the office of bishop is part of the Aaronic Priesthood. The bishop directly oversees the boys who hold the Aaronic Priesthood, and he uses that priesthood to perform some of his duties, such as handling finances and helping the poor.
However, the bishop of a ward is also a high priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood (see the next section), which gives him authority to act as CEO of the ward and conduct its spiritual affairs. In addition to overseeing the efforts of all the volunteers who typically staff a ward (see Chapter 6), the bishop spends a lot of time interviewing individual members for a variety of reasons, such as issuing temple recommends (see Chapter 7). Bishops act as judges in God’s earthly kingdom, and Mormons believe they can receive revelation about how to run the ward, including discerning what individuals are really feeling.
Melchize-who?
Originally, the full name of the Melchizedek Priesthood was the “Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God.” However, to avoid repeating the Lord’s title too often, the LDS Church renamed the higher priesthood after Melchizedek, a high priest who lived in Old Testament times. The name is a combination of two Hebrew words meaning “king” and “righteous”; the Roman Catholic Church also has a Melchizedek Priesthood order.
The key to pronouncing Melchizedek is to treat the “ch” as a “k” sound. Other than that, the pronunciation is pretty much phonetic: Mel-kih-zeh-dek.
For men: The Melchizedek Priesthood
Given to all worthy adult Mormon males, the Melchizedek Priesthood provides men with the power and authority to lead the Church and preside over their own families, including receiving revelations directly from God to help them carry out those stewardships. From the prophet (see Figure 4-2) on down, all men hold the same priesthood, but they have different offices and callings within that priesthood; the prophet is the only single man who can exercise or delegate all the keys of authority. Mormons believe God recognizes the actions of priesthood holders only when they’re in complete harmony with the chain of command, so a priesthood holder can’t go off and start his own church. (However, plenty of people have launched offshoots of Mormonism, all of which the LDS Church regards as illegitimate.)
|
Figure 4-2: As of 2004, Gordon B. Hinckley was the current prophet and president of the LDS Church. |
|
Photo by Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune
Elders
During their 20s and 30s, nearly all Mormon men hold the Melchizedek Priesthood office of elder. This rank allows them to teach and administer in the Church, bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost, do missionary work, attend the temple, and perform a variety of blessings and other ordinances. Elders preside over meetings when no high priest is available.
High Priests
In order to hold a high-ranking leadership position, such as bishop or stake president (leader of a grouping of wards), a man is first ordained a high priest. A younger man can become a high priest if God has called him to a senior leadership position, but most high priests are middle-aged or retired. When a man approaches his 40s or 50s, he may become a high priest even if he’s not called to a senior leadership position, probably just so he can stay with his peer group.
Patriarchs
Usually retirement-aged priesthood holders, patriarchs are fairly rare in the LDS Church, with many stakes (groups of wards) having only one. Typically during the teen years, a Mormon goes to a patriarch to receive a patriarchal blessing. This blessing tells the receiver which tribe of Israel he or she belongs to and includes personal advice and revelations that Mormons consider important enough to transcribe and keep handy for lifelong reference. Adult converts to the Church can receive a patriarchal blessing, too. (For more on patriarchal blessings, see Chapter 5.)
Seventies and Apostles
The relatively few men who hold either of the two Melchizedek Priesthood offices of seventy and apostle typically serve the Church full time, and together they’re also known as General Authorities. Usually based at Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, they’re assigned to oversee Church functions and departments and to rotate among positions governing the Church in large areas of the world. We discuss the General Authorities in more detail in Chapter 8.
Performing priesthood ordinances
Holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood bring the Savior into people’s lives by performing ordinances. Many of these ordinances include blessings, which are freestyle words of counsel and promise, as inspired by the Holy Ghost in accordance with God’s will. For most of these ordinances, the recipient typically sits down in a chair, and the priesthood holder stands behind the chair and places his hands on the person’s head, acting as proxy for the Lord himself. If additional priesthood holders participate, they too place their hands on the recipient’s head. Some men like to dress up in Sunday clothes before administering an ordinance, and some like to say a personal prayer first to get themselves spiritually in tune.
Many priesthood ordinances, such as healing the sick or injured and giving blessings of comfort, can be performed at will by any worthy priesthood holder. Others, such as baptism, confirmation, and priesthood ordinations, must be authorized by local priesthood leaders. Following are the main ordinances that holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood perform:
Blessings of comfort: Any Church member can ask a priesthood holder for a blessing of comfort in times of difficulty or decision making. Usually the person asks a family member or local leader who’s familiar with his or her situation. The priesthood holder simply lays his hands on the person’s head, starts the blessing, and offers whatever words he feels inspired to say.
Confirmation and bestowing the gift of the Holy Ghost: For new members of the Church, this ordinance takes place soon after baptism. We discuss it in detail in Chapter 6.
Dedications: In a manner similar to blessings but without the laying on of hands, priesthood holders can dedicate a building or gravesite as a place of spiritual sanctuary and protection. Upon moving into a new house or apartment, many Mormon priesthood holders dedicate it as a refuge of safety and happiness for their families, and some Mormons even dedicate their businesses to the Lord. The dedication process is quite simple, not much different from a normal prayer. In a more formal manner, senior Church officials dedicate new or remodeled meetinghouses and temples for their specific religious purposes, and they dedicate entire nations for the preaching of the gospel.
Fathers’ and husbands’ blessings: The Church encourages Mormon dads to give regular priesthood blessings to their children, and wives can ask their husbands for blessings. For example, many fathers bless their children at the beginning of a new school year, when they’re getting ready to face new challenges and opportunities. In addition, fathers of newborns perform a special blessing ceremony for infants, which we discuss in Chapter 6.
Healing the sick or injured: Two or more priesthood holders usually perform this two-step ordinance, although one can perform both steps if others aren’t available. One priesthood holder dribbles a few drops of consecrated olive oil (meaning it’s been previously blessed for such use) onto the head of the recipient, lays his hands on the person’s head, and says a short prayer of anointing. Another priesthood holder “seals” the anointing and offers a blessing of healing, comfort, and counsel. (A priesthood holder can buy pure olive oil at the grocery store and consecrate it, and many Mormon men carry a small key chain vial of this oil at all times.)
Mormons believe that unless a person is appointed by God to die, a healing blessing can save the person’s life. Sometimes priesthood holders feel inspired to use extrapowerful wording, such as rebuking an illness or commanding a body to be healed. At the same time, a priesthood holder can’t force a healing against God’s will. Mormons are encouraged to seek out appropriate medical treatment, as well as priesthood blessings, when they are ill. Coauthor Christopher Bigelow believes he was healed of Hodgkin’s disease via a priesthood blessing, although he still underwent subsequent chemotherapy and radiation. Better safe than sorry!
Priesthood ordinations: The priesthood is transmitted from person to person by the laying on of hands. Whenever a boy or man advances in the priesthood, another priesthood holder ordains him to the new rank. After stating the details of the ordination, most priesthood holders include a blessing of advice about exercising the priesthood. Some Mormon men carry a wallet-sized card outlining their priesthood line of authority — or genealogy — all the way back to Christ. (Yes, a big time gap lies between the apostle Peter and Joseph Smith.)
Setting people apart: Whenever a man or woman accepts a calling to perform a job or fulfill a leadership position in the Church, that person is usually set apart for the calling by a priesthood leader. After stating the facts of the calling, most leaders include a blessing of guidance and encouragement about carrying out the calling. For more about volunteer Church callings, see Chapter 6.
What about women and the priesthood?
Mormonism is adamantly, unapologetically patriarchal. Without exception, men preside over the Church and their families, and, ideally, they’re the sole breadwinners, freeing women to bear and rear children. However, lots of Mormon women work outside the home, and Church authorities frequently remind Mormon men that they must respect their wives and the women of the Church as equal partners and consult them in making decisions. In the Mormon view, men and women are equally vital, though different, halves of a whole, and neither can achieve exaltation — becoming like God — without the other.
One of the most commonly quoted scriptures in Mormonism warns priesthood holders against misusing the priesthood. If someone tries to dominate his wife or gratify selfish desires through the priesthood, “the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man” (from the Doctrine and Covenants 121:37; for more on the D&C, see Chapter 10). In other words, that man’s priesthood authority goes kaput unless and until he repents of being too bossy and selfish. Rather, men must use the priesthood “by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned” (D&C 121:41). In other words, they need to be kind and use the priesthood to serve others.
Certainly, Mormon attitudes and policies regarding the patriarchal priesthood and gender roles cause some controversy, even within the Church — for more about that topic, see Chapter 15. But many LDS women express gratitude for having a priesthood holder in the house who can perform ordinances, receive revelations for the family unit, and unscrew stuck jar lids.